


Lone Homs

by wenmistry



Category: Xenoblade Chronicles
Genre: Canon Divergence, M/M, Mutual Pining, OC X CANON, it's my canon and i make the rules, major spoilers for literally everything, mostly keyo (oc)'s pov, not entirely ship-centered, only a bit though... kinda, shulkreyn is pre-established, there are oc x oc relationships in it too, trans dunban, whole new character arc baybey
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-04
Updated: 2021-01-04
Packaged: 2021-03-14 21:27:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28552359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wenmistry/pseuds/wenmistry
Summary: When a lone homs roaming Satorl Marsh encounters a band of travellers under duress, their first instinct is to help them. What they didn't expect was to end up on a journey not only spanning all of Bionis, but Mechonis too.
Relationships: Dunban (Xenoblade Chronicles)/Original Character(s), Reyn/Shulk (Xenoblade Chronicles)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5





	Lone Homs

**Author's Note:**

> ⚠ CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS FOR XENOBLADE CHRONICLES ⚠

A soft breeze danced through the branches of leafless trees, steadily making its way across the foggy marshland. It was a quiet day like any other. The only sound breaking the silence was the soft croaking of brogs laying dormant in their ponds, as well as the sound of heavy boots on grass and the quiet clunking of loose armour. Bow in hand, the lone homs trudged through the familiar landscape with food entrenched in his thoughts. His black hair was ruffled slightly by the breeze, the lighter ends falling gracefully down the back of his neck to the tip of his backbone. Despite being messily cut, his fringe neatly framed his face (though it was longer on one side). A ragged scar ran from the right side of his jaw up across the bridge of his nose, to where it was eventually covered up by a large eyepatch which dominated the left side of his face. As for his clothing, he donned a thin, black sleeveless turtleneck with a small diamond opening in the centre, revealing the ends of his collarbones and what seemed to be another much more curiously-shaped scar running between them. A short, layered cape hung loosely over his shoulders and was reinforced by armoured shoulder-plates neatly fashioned from an intricate metal. His trousers were worn and baggy, with several hand-sewn patches desperately trying to keep the knees from fraying further. A semi-transparent black veil obscured the lower half of his face, leaving only his eye clearly visible.

To an onlooker, he may have looked intimidating-- after all, he did wear a similar attire to that of a thief-- but in Satorl Marsh there was pretty much no such thing as an 'onlooker' to begin with. It was truly a place of solitude; the thick fog and unsavoury smell were quick to drive anyone away from the wretched place, but not Keyo. The cave in which he resided was only a short distance away from where he now stood, surveying the surrounding area for signs of anything edible.

The distinct scuffling of a chimera rabbit caused the lone homs to stop in his tracks, scanning the immediate area. He soon spotted the rabbit, idly shuffling around at the base of a twisty-looking tree. Keyo crouched slowly, careful not to make a noise. He quickly reached behind his back and slid an ether arrow from his quiver; the locking mechanism that was keeping it in place clicked and caused the rabbit to perk up. Keyo froze in his tracks; this was the only chimera rabbit he had come across in weeks and he was not about to let his favourite dinner run away. When it dismissed the noise and continued absentmindedly sniffing around, Keyo relaxed and loaded the arrow into the bow, pulling back and peering down the sight.

"Come onnnn," they muttered under their breath, waiting oh so patiently for the perfect moment to strike, when suddenly--

A panicked yell from close by sent the rabbit sprinting away squealing. Keyo groaned in exasperation, lowering their bow and aggressively unloading the arrow. Great. Another potential meal down the drain. 

Then it dawned on him: Keyo was meant to be alone in the marsh... So who was yelling?

Keyo quickly got to his feet, taking off in the direction of the noise despite his gut telling him to stay put. It wasn't long until he saw the source of the noise: a band of homs were absolutely surrounded by igna. The taller, more muscular one had his shield up protecting a shorter blonde boy with a glowing weapon while a strong-looking black-haired girl had her rifle pointed directly at a particularly nasty-looking igna's face. A long-haired swordsman was being pestered by three of the creatures at once while desperately trying to protect three seemingly unarmed homs who were stood in the middle of the group. Then it dawned on him: That was the Barren Moor patrol squad-- they didn't stand a chance! Before he knew it, Keyo was running as fast as he could towards the band of unknown fighters.

The battle raged on as Keyo approached. The tallest of the group viciously bashed an igna in the face with his shield making it screech and stagger backwards, dazed. The smaller blonde lad was steadily slicing away at the same target but all his weapon seemed to do was hopelessly bounce off, not leaving a single scratch. Despite this he kept trying, receiving an encouraging pat on the shoulder from his larger counterpart. The girl with the rifle had now pulled the trigger, shooting an ether bullet into the igna's face. The igna promptly fell asleep, collapsing in a pile on the floor as the girl triumphantly placed one foot on it's back and shot it again. The long-haired swordsman unfortunately wasn't fairing as well as the others. Despite his assertive and strong demeanor, he was visibly struggling to fend off the three creatures feverishly slashing and scratching at him-- he was badly bruised and bloodied, but he seemed to insist on fighting regardless. He was also getting more frustrated by the second. The others didn't seem to notice his struggle, all too caught up in their own individual battles. One of the igna pounced, knocking the man to the floor with a harsh crash. He cried out in pain and the others swiftly looked around in response, but the other two igna were already on top of him. The muscular boy barged past the others and attempted to heave one of the creatures off of his teammate (with the help of a young kid and two older men whom the swordsman was protecting), but it wouldn't budge so he resorted to kicking it square in the jaw.

"Hey! What on Bionis do you lot think you're doing?" Keyo called out sternly, the altercation freezing as the lone homs slowed down to a seemingly confident walk. 

Everyone involved, including the igna who recognised Keyo instantly, turned to look at the source of the yell. The muscular boy's eyebrows jumped up and he turned to look at the others, pointing his index finger towards himself and then them, mouthing something along the lines of 'Do they mean us?'.

"You. Off him. Now." Keyo glared at the three igna who were still on top of the swordsman (who had now stopped struggling) and gestured aggressively with his hand. 

The igna hurriedly obeyed and scrambled off the poor man, finally allowing him room to breathe. Everyone swiftly rushed to his aid but he let out an exhausted groan and shooed them away, sitting up and putting his face in his hands. The black-haired girl kneeled down next to him and asked if he was alright, to which he responded with a curt nod and a small smile.

"What were you doing attackin' these innocent travellers?" Keyo interrogated the igna, garnering some awed looks from the homs he had just saved.

They simply hissed and jutted their spears into the air, causing Keyo to roll his eyes in disdain.

"They were near your territory? Is that it?" He put his hand on his hip as he spoke. "And how were they supposed to know that? They're new around here, from what I can tell. Besides, your territory is well far off! You have no reason to be attackin' these people unprovoked!"

The largest of the igna looked down at the ground in defeat, an expression of intense frustration on its face. It muttered something under its breath, likely expecting the archer not to hear it, but he certainly did.

"Oi! Don't get all passive-aggressive with me! Go back home and leave these poor people alone. Go! Shoo!"

And with that, the igna fell back and walked away with their tails between their legs (literally). Keyo confidently clapped his hands together as if wiping off dirt before gently unhooking the veil from behind his ears and removing it, turning to speak to the group.

"Right, you all okay?" 

"Yeah, thanks." The shorter blonde boy said with a slight nervous laugh. "You're a lifesaver- thank you so much!"

"Is he alright?" Keyo nodded towards the swordsman, who was in the process of being patched up by the girl with the rifle. "The name's Keyo, by the way."

"He should be fine, most of the bleeding is superficial." The girl replied without looking up from where she was fiddling with some bandages. "I'm Sharla."

"Oh, I'm Reyn! And this is Shulk." The tallest of the group introduced he and his friend eagerly, putting his hand on Shulk's shoulder as he introduced him. "That's Dunban, Dickson, Otharon, and Juju." he pointed to each of his friends as he relayed their names to the mysterious marsh-dweller.

Keyo squinted, cogs turning in his brain. He was sure he recognised that old man Dickson from somewhere, but it just wasn't clicking in his head. He promptly shook off the thought, choosing to file it under 'freak out about later' for the time being.

"Heh, nice to meet you all." he replied, crouching down next to the man who he now knew to be Dunban and smiling sheepishly at him before looking to Sharla. "You need any more help? I know a bit of first-aid myself." he offered, but Sharla shook her head.

"I've got it covered, don't worry."

Keyo nodded affirmatively, but still couldn't take his eyes away from the injuries. Dunban had lots of scratches on his face thanks to the igna's nasty little claws and he had a wide gash on his forehead which was dripping blood down his face.

"Argh, that looks nasty. I'm sorry I couldn't get to you sooner..." Keyo mumbled, hovering his hand above the injury and tracing the shape of it intently with his finger.

"I'm lucky that you came at all," Dunban smiled gratefully. "What's a homs like you doing in a place like this?"

"Are you a traveller too, like us?" Shulk inquired.

"Yeah! And where did you learn to talk to those lizard things? That was awesome!" Juju jumped into the conversation eagerly, shifting his weight between his feet.

Keyo laughed awkwardly, getting to his feet and taking a few steps back. He hadn't spoken to another homs in such a long time that all of this social interaction was making him giddy.

"I uh-- I live here, in the marsh," he explained. "I don't know how I learned to talk to them, really. It just happened with time."

"You live here? That's fascinating! Is there another colony here?" Shulk asked inquisitively. "Dickson never mentioned a colony."

"There's no colony here last time I checked-- there's no room. This place ain't big." Dickson interjected, putting his hand on his hip. "But… now that I think about it, Colony 3  _ used _ to be nearby."

"Hold on... I do know you! I've seen you before, in the marsh!" Keyo's eyes widened as the sound of Dickson's voice made him realise where he recognised him from.

Keyo often saw him traversing the marsh, usually mumbling idly to himself, but he never spoke to him. He wasn't even sure if Dickson had ever spotted him in the shadows-- he didn't seem to recognise him-- but he couldn't be sure.

"That wouldn't surprise me. The old man gets around." Dunban added cheekily, getting up and dusting off his trousers with one hand. Sharla got up with him, slinging her bag full of medical supplies over her shoulder and stretching.

"Back with us then, beast!" Dickson chuckled and slapped Dunban hard on the back, earning an exasperated grunt in response. "Say, Keyo, do you know anything about those ruins with the big statues?"

"No, not really. I've snooped around here and there but I'm not well-versed in it by any means," Keyo admitted. "All I know is that they were supposedly built by the High Entia, but that's just the local mythos."

"That's better than nothing!" Shulk chirped. "We're on our way there right now, do you want to come?"

Keyo hesitated.

"You… don't have to, of course," the blonde continued, his cheeks reddening in embarrassment. "It's just, you know your way around the marsh, and you know how to talk to the--"

"It's okay, I'll come with you," Keyo cut him off, his tone slightly harsher than he intended.

"The more the merrier," Dunban nodded respectfully at Keyo, to which he returned the favour.

Keyo hooked his veil back over his ears as the group turned and began walking once more. Having this much company was a very strange sensation, especially considering he hadn't so much as seen another homs in months. In fact, it was rather overwhelming, but Keyo carried on. Something in him was telling him that this was an opportunity that he didn't want to miss out on.


End file.
